Wednesday, September 06, 2006

Guus Hiddink admits Chelsea interest

Dutch coach Guus Hiddink has refused to rule out becoming sports manager of Chelsea after admitting he has had conversations with the club's owner, Roman Abramovich.

Indeed, having also guided his native Netherlands and South Korea, before leaving his Australian post to take over the Russian national team following the World Cup, Hiddink revealed he had also spoken to Stamford Bridge chief executive Peter Kenyon.

"Everybody has this preconception (about Abramovich) but I experienced a very humble and a very normal person," Hiddink told a newspaper of a man he says helped convince him to take the Russian reins.

"In fact, he was talking about football and everything that has to be done for his country and he asked me, and the president of the Russian federation, if I could help them out to bring the country back on a higher level."

Having reportedly been offered $6.2m prior to the World Cup to take the laedership of Chelsea, Hiddink also gave a hint that he would consider taking over from incumbent Jose Mourinho.

"I didn't know I would be here (in Russia) nine months ago, and the same with Korea and Australia, so you cannot predict, but as long as I love the job and enjoy composing teams then I don't say no to any job," he expressed.